If Quentin Tarantino's R-rated 'Star Trek' movie takes off, it will be the right direction for the sci-fi franchise
Quentin Tarantino has revealed that if he were to make a ‘Star Trek’ movie, it would definitely be R-rated.
In an interview with Empire the veteran director said: “It’s an R-rated movie. If I do it, it’ll be R-rated.”
If the project takes off, this would be the first time an installment of the classic franchise would be rated R but that doesn’t necessarily mean it wouldn’t be in keeping with the history of the series.
Since its inception in 1966, the ‘Star Trek’ franchise has always been about one thing at the end of the day. Beyond the freaky aliens and gleaming spaceships, the sci-fi classic has fundamentally been a story about pushing the boundaries of what is known and finding new frontiers to conquer.
From space hippies to a shirtless, sword-wielding George Takei, nothing has ever been too out there for the daring crew of the Enterprise.
In 1995, at a time when the LGBT community did not have the kind of visibility it does today, ‘Star Trek’ did not shy away from showing a kiss between two women. More recently, ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ featured Anthony Rapp’s Lt. Stamets and Wilson Cruz’s Dr. Hugh Culber sharing a kiss in an episode that aired in November 2017.
Much before all of that, and just a year after interracial marriage was legalized by the US Supreme Court, ‘Star Trek’ made history by featuring a kiss between Capt. James T. Kirk and Lt. Nyota Uhura.
With a history like that, an R-rated romp spawned from the mind of Tarantino will not be the most far-fetched thing to happen to the series. In fact, it might be a turn for the better.
In January 2019, Paramount motion-picture group president Wyck Godfrey suggested that giving Tarantino a chance to make his own ‘Star Trek’ movie may be just the sort of experimentation that has been missing from Paramount’s projects in recent times. In an interview with the New York Times, Godfrey said that an idea like Tarantino directing Star Trek can really make "people’s eyes light up.”
Tarantino first pitched his idea for a ‘Star Trek’ movie back in 2017.
According to Deadline, his idea was fleshed out into a script by Mark L. Smith of ‘Revenant’ fame and JJ Abrams is set to produce the project. Details are not clear about the plot or the cast but some of the cast of ‘Star Trek Beyond’, including Karl Urban (Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy), have expressed interest in the project.
Even cast members from previous versions of the franchise like William Shatner and Patrick Stewart have revealed that they would be interested in working with Tarantino on a new ‘Star Trek’ film.
The ‘Kill Bill’ director’s latest movie ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ is set to be released in July 2019. Fans will have to wait till after that to find out if ‘Tarantino Trek’ will definitely happen.
So far all we know for sure is that it would probably be hard-hitting, bloody and as out there as you can get with a series determined to keep pushing past every frontier.